Wednesday, 29 March 2017

Cristiano Ronaldo was accompanied by his girlfriend as Madeira Airport
was named after him. Ronaldo was born in Funchal, the capital of the
Portuguese island, and has been honoured after becoming Portugal's most
successful footballer.

Politicians on the island decided to change the airport's name after
Ronaldo's efforts in Portugal's Euro 2016 success - the country's first
major international title.

The Real Madrid star took the European Championship trophy to the island, where he is already immortalised, earlier this week.

Funchal has a Ronaldo statue and museum, as well as the Pestana CR7
Funchal Hotel, a second of which has since been opened in Lisbon.

He returned to the airport on Wednesday morning for the official
renaming ceremony, where fans came out to get a glance of their hero.

Some went a step further to ensure they were noticed by the former
Manchester United man, with one fan holding a banner and another coming
dressed as Batman, much to the amusement of those in attendance.

Ronaldo scored the opener in the 3-2 friendly defeat to Sweden on
Tuesday night, as he played an hour at the Estadio dos Barreiros in
Funchal.

His goal took him to 71 international goals, making him the joint third-highest European international goalscorer of all time.